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Japanese Scientists to Clone Cat

Date Posted: 2000-03-17

By the month of June this year, Japanese scientists may be able to create the world’s first cloned cat, several national media outlets reported at the beginning of the week. Some researchers at Yamaguchi University, located in eastern Japan, said they have succeeded in cultivating a cloned egg, developed from the cell of a dead cat foetus, in a test tube. They also said that the egg is ready to be implanted in the womb of a female cat, according to the press reports. One of the eminent scientists, Professor Tatsuyuki Suzuki, was reported as saying that he hopes to use the technique to preserve Iriomote wildcats, Siberian tigers and other endangered felines.